tall man, small world

Defeating the Super-Bug

India is now the host of a new disease which is capable of causing an epidemic. The disease is called CRE (Carbapenem Resistant Enterobacteriaceae). The term ‘Enterobacteriaceae’ refers to the family of bacteria that are present as pathogens.

Infections are often caused by the action of microbes. To control the infection, these microbes must either be killed or made dormant. Hence ‘antibiotics’ came into existence. The term was coined in 1942 by Selman Walksman and the first antibiotic to be discovered was Penicillin by Alexander Fleming in 1928. Amoxicillin and Cephalosporin are the other antibiotics that are commonly used all over the world. As the use of these antibiotics became rhetoric, the microbes developed resistance to these compounds. Hence ‘Carbapenem’ came into existence.

All the antibiotics including Carbapenem, have beta-lactam ring in their structure. The newly discovered Super-Bug releases a protein…